•  The Washburn Ichabod softball team will wrap up the regular season hosting Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri on Friday and Saturday this weekend at the Washburn Softball Complex.
•  Between games against the Bearcats, the Ichabods will recognize their four seniors who will be finishing their Washburn careers. Marina Quimby, Haylee Marsteller, Taylor Zimmerman and Sierra Kemp will be honored with their families on Saturday. One additional senior, Taylor Kemp, was injured the first weekend and will seek a medical redshirt to regain her year of eligibility.
•  Washburn enters the game with a 19-23 overall record and an 8-14 MIAA mark placing them 11th in the conference standings … the top eight will qualify for the MIAA Tournament in Oklahoma City starting April 28 …Washburn trails Missouri Southern, Southwest Baptist and Nebraska-Kearney who all have nine wins in the MIAA race.
•  Missouri Western leads the conference with a 19-3 league mark and they are 35-11 overall coming off a 10-game homestand splitting a doubleheader with Northwest Missouri last time out.
•  Northwest Missouri enters the weekend with a 17-5 MIAA mark, which is tied for second in the league race and they are 34-10 overall.
•  With two more wins, Ichabod head coach Vanessa Becerra will record her 100th win on the Ichabod bench. •  Sophomore infielder Cassidy Merriman leads the team with a .362 batting average and her 51 hits also lead the Ichabods … she also leads the team with 31 runs scored and 33 RBI … her .652 slugging percentage and her .408 on base percentage also lead the team …  this season she has 15 multi-hit games and 11 multi-RBI games.
•  Freshman Ashley Ruder is batting .327 this season and has 34 hits with two doubles and 8 RBI.
•  Freshman Lacie Myers is third on the team with a .317 batting average and she is hitting .361 in MIAA play … she is 22 for 61 in MIAA play.
•  Senior outfielder Haylee Marsteller is fourth on the team with a .301 batting average and she has 34 hits with 20 runs scored and five home runs.
•  Senior infielder Marina Quimby is fifth on the team with a .299 batting average and her 38 hits are third and her 19 RBI is third … she has scored 105 runs which is fifth all-time at Washburn and she has started 166 of 171 career games.
•  Freshman infielder Erin Keeney is batting .296 with 29 hits … she's scored 14 runs and has 14 RBI … Keeney is second on the team 11 multi-hit games.
•  Senior second baseman Taylor Zimmerman is seventh on the Ichabods with a .295 batting average and has 36 hits this season which is fourth on the team and her eight home runs are tied for the team lead … her 28 RBI is second on the team and her .549 slugging percentage is second on the squad … she was named the NFCA National Player of the Week following the weekend games with Lindenwood and Lincoln.
•  Junior pitcher Samantha Carson leads the team with a 2.54 earned run average in 137 2/3 innings pitched going 10-9 in the circle … in relief she has pitched 14 1/3 innings with a 2.44 earned run average striking out eight allowing five earned runs recording a 3-0 record and a save.
•   Haylee Marsteller drove in her 50th run of her career at the regional crossover earlier this season … … her 67 walks are second all-time on the Ichabod career chart.
•   Cassidy Merriman's 20 career home runs 11th all-time at Washburn and she needs one more to move into the top 10 all-time … Taylor Zimmerman's 18 career home runs are 12th at Washburn.
•   The Ichabods are 15-6 when leading after four innings, 10-5 when leading after five innings and 10-3 when leading after six innings.
•   Washburn have been outscored by their opponents 202 to 179 this season and have been outscored 29 to 21 in the second inning and 27 to 19 in the sixth inning … Washburn is outscoring opponents 17 to 10 in extra innings.
  Missouri Western
•  The Griffons are 35-11 this season leading the MIAA race by two games over Northwest Missouri.
•  Morgan Rathmann leads the team with a .380 batting average with 63 hits and she has swiped 22 of 25 stolen base attempts.
•  Shyanne Saladino is 17-3 with a 2.10 earned run average and Janie Smith is 18-8 with a 2.73 ERA.
•  The Ichabods lead the all-time series 47-41 after splitting a doubleheader last season.
 
Northwest Missouri
•  The Bearcats are 34-10 overall and 17-5 in the MIAA sitting in second place in the conference standings.
•  Alexis Kelsey and Torri Blythe lead the team with a .377 batting average …Blythe has 58 hits, Kelsey have 52 hits as does Rebecca Maher who is hitting .374.
•  Kendle Schieber is 19-4 with a 1.92 earned run average … she has 101 strikeouts and 16 walks … Sarah Baldwin is 9-4 with a 2.44 ERA.
•  Washburn leads the all-time series 51-32, the Bearcats have won the last two meetings.
  TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabod softball team wrapped up its non-conference slate by splitting a doubleheader with Wayne State winning game one 6-4 before falling 5-4 in nine innings in the nightcap.
Game 1 - WU 6, WSC 4
Washburn won the opening game hitting a pair of home runs in the 6-4 win.
Washburn scored two in the second inning on a two-run homer by Sierra Kemp scoring Marina Quimby who reached on an error.
After Wayne State had a two-run homer of its own by Emily Chandler and added another run on a sac fly taking a 3-2 entering the bottom of the third.
Washburn came back with three runs on a three-run home run by Taylor Zimmerman scoring Ashley Ruder and Megan Stegman putting Washburn back up 5-3.
The Wildcats scored a solo run in the fifth cutting the lead to 5-4, but a sac fly by Lacie Myers scored Quimby who reached on one of three errors by the Wildcats in the game.
Cassidy Merriman had two of the five hits for the Ichabods and Zimmerman drove in three courtesy of her three-run homer. Quimby scored two runs for Washburn.
Samantha Carson improved to 10-9 in the circle allowing three earned runs striking out three.
Game 2 - WSC 5, WU 4 (9 innings)
After Wayne State score a solo run in the top of the first, Washburn came back to tie the score in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single by Taylor Zimmerman scoring Ashley Ruder who led off the game with a single to shortstop.
In the second, Haylee Marsteller singled down the left field line sending Sierra Kemp home from second putting the Ichabods up 2-1.
After the Wildcats tied the score at 2-2 with their at bat in the top of the third, Washburn regained the lead with a solo run on an RBI single by Sierra Kemp scoring Merriman who led off the inning with a single.
In the fifth inning, the Wildcats tied the score at 3-3 with a sac fly.
Neither team scored in the sixth and seventh innings. In the eighth after Katelyn Wobken was placed on second and on Emily Chandler's single to right, Quimby gunned Wobken down at the plate halting the scoring opportunity for the Wildcats. Quimby ended the at bat for the Wildcats with an over the should grab to end the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Ichabods hit into a double play going shortstop, first base to third base emptying the bases and a ground out ended the inning.
For the Wildcats in the ninth, they scored two times to go up 5-3.
Washburn got one back in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single by Ashley Ruder, but stranded two on base coming up one run short in the 5-4 loss.
Ruder led the Ichabods with three hits and Sierra Kemp, Lacie Myers and Haylee Marsteller each had two hits.
Ashley Wills pitched all nine innings for the Ichabods striking out three allowing three unearned runs.
  • was named the Washburn Ichabod head softball coach on Aug. 3, 2011 after spending four seasons at Metro State in Denver, Colo., with the final season coming as the head coach.
• is 98-127 in her fifth season on the bench at Washburn and overall Becerra has recorded a 132-145 mark in her sixth year as a head coach.
• in her lone season as the head coach at Metro State, Becerra led the Roadrunners the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season championship while advancing to the NCAA regional tournament for the third-straight season finishing with a 34-18 record.
• has coached 20 Ichabods to all-MIAA honors.
• has had 54 Ichabods named to the MIAA's Academic Honor Roll.
  • The Ichabods are 1113-832-1 in their 47th year of softball.
• The Ichabods have made three NCAA Tournament appearances (1999, 2006, 2008).
• Washburn won the 2002 regular season MIAA title. Time will tell for the Ichabods. Be sure to check back at wusports.com for updates once the final bracket is announced by the MIAA.